China's iron ore imports in July surged to a record, up 24 percent from a year earlier, customs data showed on Friday, driven by shipments from miners and resilient demand as the economy bounced back after disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.

Arrivals of the key steelmaking ingredient were 112.65 million tons last month, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. That is up 10.8 percent from 101.68 million tons in June and above the 91.2 million tons imported in July 2019.

Over the first seven months of the year, China brought in 659.6 million tons of iron ore, up 11.8 percent from the same period last year, the customs data showed.

"The jump in imports mainly came from non-mainstream suppliers as shipments from Brazil are still hurt by the pandemic," said Wu Shiping, an analyst with Tianfeng Futures, adding that strong demand in China has also propped up purchases despite surging iron ore prices.

The most-active iron ore futures contract in China gained more than 14 percent last month.

Average capacity utilization rates of blast furnaces at 163 mills in China, indicating input of the steelmaking ingredients, was at an average of 86 percent in July, dipping a bit from 86.4 percent in the previous month but still at a relatively high level, according to Reuters calculations based on data from Mysteel consultancy.

Data released by the customs office also showed China's steel imports were 2.61 million tons in July, the highest since April 2004.

Steel exports from China were 4.2 million tones last month, down 25 percent from July 2019.